US stocks open lower with tech selloff, rising volatility

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indices in the US stock market opened lower Monday with the selloff in technology companies' stocks and rising volatility in the market.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 180 points, or 0.5%, to 36,050 at 9.35 a.m. EDT. The S&P 500 fell 46 points, or 1%, to 4,630.

The Nasdaq plummeted 253 points, or 1.7%, 14,680 as GameStop and AMC Entertainment saw their stock price lose 9% and 7%, respectively.

While Tesla shares fell 4%, Twitter, Amazon and Google's parent company Alphabet lost more than 2% apiece.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, jumped 14.2% to 21.42.

The dollar index gained 0.5% to 96.20, while the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose 1.7% to 1.799%.

Precious metals were on decline, with gold losing 0.14% to $1,794 per ounce and silver decreasing 0.34% to $22.28.

Crude prices lost around 0.3% with Brent crude trading at $81.50 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate at $78.65.

Bitcoin has continued its decline, falling another 4% to $39,860, while some cryptocurrencies were down as much as 12%.

The crypto market's total value was around $1.86 trillion with a 4.4% daily loss, according to data by digital asset price-tracking website CoinMarketCap.